Economic Restructuring, Social Policies, and Women’s Work in Poland

Abstract

Poland is one of the few Central and Eastern European countries experiencing a growth of the national income where, as many experts believe, the economic reforms initiated in the early 1990s are beginning to bear fruit. Between 1988 (the last year before an economic and political transformation) and 1993, a decline of real income of households was 27%, being one of the fastest in Central and Eastern Europe (Milanoviae, 1996). Unemployment and the pauperization of a significant part of society were on the rise until 1995–1996, when a gradual decrease of absolute poverty and some stabilization of relative and subjective poverty was observed. In 1993, 40% of households had the income below the level of subjective poverty, in 1995 and 1996 – 31% (Poverty Indicators — in View of Household Budget Surveys, 1997). In this difficult situation, certain social groups have a particularly high price to pay. These include the elderly, children, less educated as well as women and youth just entering the labor market (Poverty Indicators — in View of Household Budget Surveys, 1997).